The Former Scioto County judge linked to an alleged human trafficking ring’s bid to overturn the suspension of his law license was shot down by the Ohio Supreme Court with two simple words: APPLICATION DENIED.
The Court provided links to four other cases to back up their decision. But they didn’t have anything else to say.
Judge William T. Marshall’s name has been linked to the recent human trafficking investigations in Portsmouth that have made national news. He’s always vehemently denied involvement and the FBI and other investigating bodies have never named him. This action isn’t related at all the human trafficking charges. This is strictly based on his outrageous conduct on the bench. Here is a breakdown of the three main points.
1 Traffic Stop
Let’s look at how his legal trouble started. We’ll refer to the official disciplinary records from Ohio’s Board of Professional Conduct. Marshall himself agreed to this version of events.
On April 1, 2015, Marshall was publicly reprimanded after he pleaded guilty to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
On April 27, 2018, Marshall was charged with professional misconduct related to his behavior when his 17-year-old daughter was pulled over for speeding and for driving with expired tags.
Both Marshall and the board agreed that the following things happened:
On September 1, 2016, in Scioto County, Sergeant David Stuart of the Ohio State Highway Patrol stopped Marshall’s daughter for speeding and for having expired tags.
- When Stuart approached the vehicle, she immediately identified herself and stated that her father was “Judge Marshall.”
- During the stop, she called Marshall on her cell phone and explained to him that she had been pulled over for speeding.
- She asked Stuart to talk to Marshall. Initially, Stuart declined. But when she handed her phone to Stuart, he took it. Stuart then informed Marshall that his daughter had been stopped for speeding and for having expired tags.
- Marshall disputed Stuart’s assertion that the tags were expired and asked Stuart if he was going to give her a ticket.
- Stuart stated that he was going to write a ticket for speeding because she “was running 14 over.”
- The officer then attempted to hand the phone back to Marshall’s daughter, but she refused to take it.
- So Stuart placed her cell phone on the dashboard and returned to his patrol car, where he wrote a citation for speeding. Stuart gave her a warning for the expired tags.
2 Marshall’s Threats
Marshall was not happy about his daughter being treated like everybody else who gets pulled over. By his own admission, he worked to make sure the case was heard in Scioto, not Jackson County. Then he approached an assistant prosecutor and said:
“I didn’t like the trooper. He didn’t listen to me. There used to be a code in this county—I’m a judge and he shouldn’t have written my daughter [a ticket].”
Marshall continued to interfere in the case and threatened the trooper.
“If he cuts my little girl, I’m going to cut him.” Marshall stated that Stuart had been unprofessional and had shown him no professional courtesy.
He also told other lawyers he would hold the trooper’s action against the entire Ohio Highway Patrol. Later while presiding at a trial, Marshall grilled a state trooper about the accuracy of his radar gun. Unbelievably, he then threw down a legal pad and walked off the bench.
I could go on until next Tuesday listing the bizarre behavior connected with the trial. Suffice it to say that it was enough for Ohio’s Supreme Court to suspend Marshall’s license to practice law for six months in 2019. He retired just before the suspension went into effect.
3 Drinking and Human Trafficking
Shortly after that suspension, Marshall’s name was prominently featured in an article about human trafficking in Scioto County.
His family then revealed that he’d been hospitalized multiple times for alcoholism. It was also alleged that he presided over cases while drunk. That lead to a massive review of his rulings.
